


A strange girl

by Rattosaurus



Series: Steampunk Owl House [3]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Gus can do magic, Im tired, Luz makes new friends, king is a robot, so is hooty, will come up with better tags later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:55:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29962602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rattosaurus/pseuds/Rattosaurus
Summary: Willow and Gus plan on spending an ordinary day with a trip to the market. However, meeting someone new may change their plans in the proses of making friends.
Series: Steampunk Owl House [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2042461
Kudos: 8





	A strange girl

“Willow! Willow! I figured it out!” Gus said sprinting over to Willow, while she sat on a bench at the edge of the market.

Willow turning over to look at the younger boy with a smile on her face, “Yeah?”. Gus nods enthusiastically, “Okay, come on I need to pick up some stuff and we need to get lunch. You can show me after if you want.”

“Yes please!” Gus said excitedly holding a deck of cards, “So, what do you need today?”

“Some stuff for school and my plants.” Willow smiled at him, standing and making her way into the market, “I need more paper and pencils… Oh and I wanted to see if I could get another book on plants.”

“Hmm… I can’t think of anything I want to buy. I want to look at all the robot stuff on show today though.” Gus responds following with a giddy smile.

Walking through the market wasn’t an easy task as it was busy and loud for a weekend afternoon. They looked through around half the stands before finding one that sold hot food that looked and smelled slightly edible. They kept walking around while eating and talking, after 10 minutes of just talking and looking closely at thing on various stands, until they stumble apron a stand that looks out of place.

There was a woman with crazy grey hair talking with an animatronic creature, selling random trinkets and small mechanical objects at the front of the stand. At the back was a smaller table a girl was working on and had hair that stuck at all angles. Gus drifted towards the stand as the lady stood up, said something to the girl and then walked off after getting a nod. Willow and Gus got to the stand as the girl sat at the front and the animatronic climbed to sit on her shoulder.

“Hey, how can we help today?” The girl said with a big but kind smile.

“We are just looking.” Willow said receiving a nod and the girl turned to talk to her shoulder companion as Gus looked at something fascinated.

“King, don’t be grumpy. We will build your empire.” The companion shook it’s head.

“The mighty king of robots can not concur the mortal realm without his army of fear. We need to find worthy soldiers.” the robot said loudly holding her face.

The girl chuckled, “Don’t worry your highness, your army will be the most feared and will be strong enough to concur all. However, these things take time, so you will have to be patient.”

It put a hand (paw?) on its chest, “I am a patient king, you and Eda will suffice for now.”

The girl and King failed to notice that Willow and Gus watching with peak interest, till Gus talked.

“What are you?” He asked King with stars in his eyes.

“I, my subject, am the King and rightful ruler of all.” King said getting a chuckle of the girls shoulder he sat on.

“King, is a robot. He is self-aware and is a mighty ruler.” Her voice held a serious but jokey tone. She held a handout to shake Gus’s, “I am his loyal steward, Luz, Luz Noceda, you are?”

Gus shook her hand enthusiastically, “I’m Gus and this is my friend willow.” Willow shook Luz’s hand too as Gus continued to talk, “Did you make him?”

Luz chuckled lightly, “No, Eda did. I just help make sure that his highness is fit and well. Though Hooty’s harder to maintain, he is another robot Eda made. Unfortunately, heeee’s… hmm… how would you put it?”

“He makes you want to end the world. For all the wrong reasons.” King said in a flat tone.

“That’s not nice king, but it’s true. He’s loud, obnoxious and his voice is like scraping a chalkboard sometimes.” Luz said moving her shoulder to shrug.

“Can I meet it?” Gus almost shouted in excitement.

“I can’t leave till Eda gets back,” Luz said rubbing the back of her neck, “but I guess Hooty meeting some new people wouldn’t do any harm, right?” Luz asked turning to King.

“Why you looking at me? If they want to go through the torcher of talking to that infernal machine, then so be it.” King shrugged.

Luz shrugged in response, “If you want to meet him then sure, I’ll ask Eda when she back if I can finish early. You are more than welcome to sit at my table in the back and talk. She shouldn’t be too long.”

Gus and Willow took up Luz’s offer and moved to where she was sitting before. They looked at the stuff she had been working on prior and noticed that they looked like repair jobs. Small object and machines that looked half-finished or half-broken. Everyone sat in an awkward silence till Willow spoke again.

“Are you new to here? I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before” 

“No, lived here foooor… maybe 3 and a bit years, almost 4 now? Mainly on and off but permanently just over a year ago.” Luz said turning round to face them with King sat on her lap now.

“Really?” Gus looked up confused, “You look our age, do you not go to school?”

Luz paused like she was about to say something but stopped herself, King took this chance to laugh. Luz rolled her eyes at him giggling a little, then responded, “Let’s just say, me and schools don’t mix well. Plus, I’m Eda’s apprentice, so I don’t actually have to go to school at all.”

Gus made a ‘ah’ noise while Willow looked like she had much more questions from that answer but decided not to ask any yet. After a moment they got into the flow of a comfortable conversation, stopping every now and then for Luz to serve a customer.

It couldn’t have been more than 20 minutes, when King perked up and scrambled to Luz’s shoulder then her head. His eyes went big, jumped off Luz’s head and sprinted to a grey-haired woman that Willow and Gus found intimidating immediately.

They found seeing her up close scary, you could see her hands are made of metal and she had a metal neck somehow. While Gus gulped trying not to look her in the eye, Willow couldn’t help but recognize her from somewhere. She couldn’t figure out where but knew she had seen her face before.

“Luz, your meant to be watching the stand.” the woman crossed her arms and an eyebrow rose.

“I was Eda, but I made friends too.” Luz said with a huge smile, “I was wondering if I could finish early today and hang out them back at the owl house?”

Eda looked to be scrutinising Willow and Gus with a glare, only to shrug her shoulders and nod, “Eh, sure. Just take your stuff back, I’m not carrying all that as well.”

With that Luz had jumped up and with in minutes the part Gus and Willow were sitting at was gone and packed up, on her back to be carried, starting to lead them away. Walking away they could hear Eda say to watch out for the Guards. This confused Gus and Willow, and they shared a look then shrugged.

“Would you like a hand carrying that? It looks heavy.” Gus asked Luz breaking the silence.

“Nah, it’s not too heavy and we only have like a ten-minute walk but thanks.” Luz smiled down at Gus.

Willow asked if she was sure despite seeing the fact Luz was having visible issue carrying it all. After they had some more talk Luz paused to give them a brief warning. Listing off things they shouldn’t do around Hooty.

First, Don’t ask him about his day.

“Why?”

“He will talk for hours and you will never escape.”

Willow and Gus nodded in understanding.

Second, Never look him in the eye, it WILL give you nightmares.

Willow gave a nod, while Gus looked at Luz sceptically.

And third, If he invites for a tea party, run.

Gus and Willow look at each other then back at Luz asking at the same time and very slowly why.

Luz visibly shuddered with a distant look, “You never forget your first tea party… Never again.”

This made Willow and Gus almost want to run for their lives but nodded very slowly. When Luz sees they nodded she started to lead them further. Only to stop at the sound of a can being knocked over, they don’t turn round when Luz does but they see a mischievous look. She shares a look with them that screams run before taking off, so they do the only logical thing, run after Luz asking what is happening. 

They hadn’t been running more than a few minutes when a clearing with a house appears, after running down alleyways and through crowds of people. When they look closely at the house, they see how out of place it is for the area. It’s large and well maintained for the area they are in. It looks completely out of place, but also blends usually well for the area.

“Hooty! We have company!” Luz shouts still running, “Your friends are back for another tea party!” 

Gus watches as a metal cylinder stretches out of the front door of the house fascinated. Willow, on the hand, turned round to the people chasing them as she heard some screams of terror. This makes her almost stop running because her, Gus and Luz are being chased by the Guards, but a tug of her hand has her following. She looks to see Luz holding her hand, tugging her towards the house. Gus and Willow watch as the metal tube stretches past them, talking to the Guards in an ear grating voice.

Once they got inside the house, Willow and Gus sighed dropping onto the floor. Luz on the other hand was standing by the window laughing as the Guards are either running from the metal tube or trying to attack it. Both groups failing miserably. After a few minutes Luz vanished to another room before returning with 3 cups of juice.

By the time they had finished their drinks, they couldn’t hear any more commotion, but Willow and Gus jumped when the door slammed open.

“Hiya Luz!” the metal tube had a face that creeped forward making Gus and Willow shiver violently, “Ooooh, you have friends over! Hi! I’m Hooty! Hoot hoot!”

“Hooty, this is Willow and Gus,” Luz smiled, while Willow and Gus grimaced waving awkwardly, “They just wanted to say hi before we go to my room to hang out.”

“Hoot! It is sooo nice to meet you! My other friends didn’t want to hang out and have a tea party but maybe you would!” Hooty said with almost a sadistic smile.

Before they could decline Luz step between them waving her hands nervously, “Not today, maybe another time.”

“Okay! Hoot! I’ll make sure no more of my friends interrupt!” Hooty said before reversing quickly before slamming the door shut. 

Luz let out a huge sigh with her shoulders visibly sagging. A poster willow sees catches her eyes; it looks like Luz’s mentor with King. It has bold words ‘Eda the Owl Lady, Wanted’ then the biggest reward she has ever seen. 

Then it clicked, “Your mentor is wanted by the emperor?!” Willow all but shouts.

Luz just shrugs, “I mean, yeah, but it isn’t in the way you think. Like, yeah, she scams and picks pockets every now and then but she’s a good person and that’s not the reason behind it. My mami wouldn’t have let me live with her if she didn’t trust Eda.”

Luz walks to some stairs waving for them to follow, why they get to her room Gus can only gasp in amazement. It is a mess but it’s full of projects, blueprints, book, lots of books and lots of little paper figures. 

“Wow… What is all this?” Gus turned to Luz with stars in his eyes.

Giggling at his reaction, Luz responded, “Mainly stuff I’m working on or Eda’s teaching me.”

The next hour was filled with Gus picking up random things asking what they are, Luz answering and Willow trying, key word trying, to follow Luz as she makes an origami dragon. Willow was trying to make a simple one, while Luz went to find her larger sheets of paper to make a bigger one for Willow. Gus joined in eventually but didn’t get very far like Willow. By the time Luz had finished the first one, Eda had appeared at the door.

“Is that the dragon you tried to make the other week?” Eda said breaking the comfortable silence of Luz’s room making Willow and Gus jump.

“No, that one take’s almost 4 hours to do.” Luz said not even looking up from the second one she started, after handing Willow her one.

“There’s one that take’s 4 hours to make?” Willow questioned, while studying the dragon she just got handed.

“Yup. I messed up somewhere, so I put it down to go back to it after I finished learning something on the piano.” Luz looked up with a gentle smile.

“How do I fold here?” Gus asked not following the other conversation, “This is so much harder than magic tricks.” 

Luz stopped, slowly looked up at Gus, “You know magic tricks?”

“I do, would you like to see one?” Gus’s smile grew.

There is a moment of unnecessary silence, “Please show me everything.” Luz asked vibrating with excitement.

Eda left after that because she only has enough patience for enough one excitable teenager. Gus looked at Willow, “Willow, will you be my assistant please?”

“Sure.” Willow smiled and moved to sit beside Gus.

Gus pulled out a deck of cards, shuffled them and then passed them to Willow, “Luz, please pick a card from the deck.” he gestured for Willow to hold them out for Luz, “Don’t let me see it.”

Luz put a hand on her chin and narrowed her eyes at the deck like it had offended her, before slowly taking a card. “Memorize your card then put it back for Willow to shuffle.”

Luz did as Gus instructed, followed by Willow shuffling them before handing the deck back over. Gus took the deck in his hand, “I’m going to split this deck in two, you are going to pick one.” Luz nodded, as Gus split the deck and Luz picked the left one. “I’m going to split this again; you’re going to do the same.” Luz nodded again but picked right this time.

Gus spread the cards evenly in front of her, “Pick one of the cards and turn it over.” Gus had a hopeful look on his face as he was hoping this trick went right.

Luz looked at the cards, hand hovering over all of them not knowing what one to pick. So, she closed her eyes and flipped over a random one. When she looked at the card her mouth hung open.

“…How?” Luz looked between Gus and Willow with a look of amazement and confusion.

“A magician never reveals his secrets.” Gus said beaming.


End file.
